Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Known apparatus for forming bulbs in cable bolts include those described in Australian Patent Nos. 723113 ('113), 640906 ('906) and 770594 ('594).
'113 describes an apparatus which includes two clamp means, one of the clamp means including a one way clamp and a displacement means for displacing the clamping means towards one another to form the bulb.
By comparison, '906 describes an apparatus including a pair of clamp means with each clamp including a pair of plates for clamping a cable. The apparatus also includes a clamp displacement means arranged to displace the clamp means towards one another to form a bulb in a cable and a cable displacement means for displacing the cable longitudinally after a bulb has been formed.
Alternatively, '594 describes an apparatus and method for manufacturing a multi-strand rock bolt including feed means for supplying a multi-strand cable from a rotatable supply reel, a means for forming the cable with bulbs at spaced intervals and a means for determining the position of the cable to stop operation of the feed means to enable a further bulb to be formed.
All three inventions described in the specifications above include some form of cable bulbing assembly which remains in a fixed location. If multiple bulbs are required, the cable is then moved via displacement means into a new position for the bulbing process to be repeated.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.
It is an object of the present invention, at least in a preferred form, to provide a cable bulbing machine which does not require the use of cable displacement means for forming multiple bulbs along the length of a cable bolt.